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Army ROTC Receives Legislative Recognition

The University of Hawaii Army ROTC program will receive a resolution from the State House of Representatives on Monday, March 19 that states, BE IT RESOLVED, on this 80th anniversary of the founding of the University of Hawaii Army Reserved Officers Training Corps, that the Legislature of the State of Hawaii honor and thank the graduates and cadre for their outstanding contributions to our state and nation.

On hand to receive the proclamation will be Retired Generals and UH Alums, Allen Ono and Ed Hirata. Army ROTC Alumni Chapter representatives Ed Gayagas and Pat Naughton will also join LTC Bob Takao, head of the department at the presentation on the floor of the House of Representatives.

The text of the entire resolution reads:

WHEREAS, the Army Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC) was founded with the passage of the National Defense Act of 1916 with the University of Hawaii establishing its senior division ROTC unit in 1921 with Colonel Adna G. Clarke as the first Professor of Military Science and Tactics with an initial enrollment of 100 students whereby graduates could obtain commissions as Second Lieutenants in the Infantry or Artillery, until 1955 and any branch since 1956; and

WHEREAS, the University of Hawaii Army ROTC program has been an active and integral participant for 80 years in the development of leaders for the military and the state to include members of Congress such as U.S. Senators Hiram L. Fong and Spark M. Matsunaga, territorial and state cabinet members and the legislators, lower and higher education, the professions, and the private sector; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve, Hawaii have looked to the University of Hawaii Army ROTC to educate and develop its leaders such that many of their commanding generals and other senior officers were graduates of this program; and

WHEREAS, several graduates and cadre have made the supreme sacrifice in their service to their nation during World War II, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam War; and

WHEREAS, the University of Hawaii Army ROTC detachment is the only senior ROTC unit in the nation to be awarded a battle streamer having been called to active duty on December 7, 1941; and

WHEREAS, University of Hawaii Army ROTC cadets have led the nation in leadership development and tactics through such awards as the Warrior of the Pacific trophy which was annually awarded nationally to the ROTC unit with the best score at its summer camp and which the University of Hawaii Army ROTC detachment won 16 times; and

WHEREAS, in 1967 students from other four-year universities in the state were permitted to enroll in the program so that since then commissions have been offered to graduates of Hawaii Pacific University, Brigham Young University of Hawaii, and Chaminade University of Honolulu, and that the program has been further expanded by offering the first two years of the program at America Samoa Community College; and

WHEREAS, the University of Hawaii Army ROTC continues to excel such that under its current Cadre and Staff under the direction of the Professor of Military Science, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Takao, the unit has been ranked number 1 in the United States west of the Mississippi River and 4th in the nation overall; now therefore:

BE IT RESOLVED, on this 80th anniversary of the founding of the University of Hawaii Army Reserved Officers Training Corps, that the Legislature of the State of Hawaii honor and thank the graduates and cadre for their outstanding contributions to our state and nation; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Lieutenant Colonel Robert Takao and the cadre and current cadets of the University of Hawaii Army ROTC unit be congratulated on achieving the number 1 ranking in the West and for maintaining a quality program that graduates men and women to follow the excellent role models set by the graduates of the past 80 years; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Legislature congratulate the University of Hawaii and its partners Hawaii Pacific University, Brigham Young University of Hawaii, and Chaminade University of Honolulu for maintaining and supporting Army ROTC now and in the future.